1/ Some people think bashing “the establishment” and HRC is actually a coherent left politic. Fascinating.
2/ these are folks who are so utterly unable to discern the difference between the modern GOP and Dems that they’ve lost their minds...(Tulsi/Stein/some Bernie Stans)...
3/ People who figure anyone who would vote Dem (except maybe for Bernie) is a neo lib shill who just doesn’t understand what it means to be a real leftist..
4/ Meanwhile I guess they would now even say Chomsky’s a sell out Bc he says the GOP is the most dangerous organization in history at this point. But what does he know? These folks loved him 20 yrs ago but he’s gone soft no doubt... bullshit
5/ He just has perspective that others lack. Also, saying shit like that about the evil of the Dems is a slap in the face to most people of color who vote for Dems. It’s like saying “what do you fools know? Ugh, silly neo-libs...”
6/ this more radical than thou Puritanism doesn’t build movements, it doesn’t do shit. The folks who rock this nonsense have no theory of change. None. They dont even try to articulate one. It’s just “force the elite to capitulate” bullshit with no theory of how that happens..
7/ no theory of how you get really good left legislation passed without winning the Senate but they’re unwilling to back anyone who isn’t already radical enuf, which means u can’t win the senate...
8/ same in the house... people apparently think marching and protest just magically will force change but that is not what has happened ever. Protests only work when lawmakers feel personally endangered as to their own re-election...
9/ and in districts that aren’t that progressive or states that aren’t, politicians will never feel compelled to vote that left Bc they can’t be displaced by people further left than they...
10/ but we act like none of that matters and we can just hold out for the perfect radical candidate and refuse to support anyone else. That’ll somehow force change. Nope; the right will keep winning while the left feels pure...congrats
11/ but hey at least you didn’t sully your morals with a vote for HRC or whatever Obama-bot the establishment got behind! Because that would be the real crime! If Trump gets re-elected, America (and the DNC) deserve it right?! (Say a bunch of assholes)...
12/ it’s exhausting and the same bullshit the puritanical left has been saying for 50 years. We’ll sit out the election or vote 3rd party or whatever till we get what we want... and we never do. Never. But maybe this time right?? Maybe we’ll show em this time. Wanna bet?...
13/ Its a nihilistic mindset; it’s rooted in a contempt for anything or anyone that seems establishment Bc if “they” support you, you must be awful. It’s a semi-conspiratorial mindset...
14/ ..it’s like those folks in the 80s who loved REM till they had some hits and then it was like “fuckin corporate sellouts.” The left has a weird love affair w/ small and inconsequential. Like just being an outsider or iconoclast = legitimacy. But that’s bullshit...(Tulsi)
15/ Sometimes being an outsider isn’t because people are conspiring to shut you out or silence you, or because you speak “truths they can’t handle.” Sometimes it’s just because people don’t agree with you or they do but don’t trust you personally for whatever reason...(Tulsi)
16/ so if we want that to change and move the nation left we have to figure out how to move from margins. That means having a theory of change. And that probably means incremental steps towards our goals even as we articulate our ultimate vision clearly...
17/ I respect the way Bernie has moved the debate left. It’s been a huge service to the nation. But now we need a theory of how that vision happens in a system with a much more conservative legislature and judiciary...
18/ and it won’t be enuf to say, as many on Twitter do, “we just have to dream big” or “things are always impossible till they aren’t.” Put that shit on a bumper sticker y’all. It’s not a theory of change. It’s not a strategy..
19/ you have to show the steps from a to b to c if you’re going to get people excited about big changes (which we need for sure)... otherwise you’re setting people up for disappointment and cynicism...
20/ and I don’t claim to have the answers either: but I damned sure know the questions we should be asking and which much of the modern left sees no reason to even bother with, Bc doubt or questions are for neo liberal shills and the 1%!!! Sit the hell down...
